Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 11:54
The mounts in Kiwi's first post are the go but very expensive. I have worked professionally mounting 30kg 35mm movie cameras worth $600K plus on vehicles (Grip) and have a huge amount of respect for the limpet mount systems for lighter stuff. They look dodgey but work brilliantly.
BUT.....they are very expensive. All the gear can be purchased locally from Panavision (aka Greedyvision) in Artarmon
Sydney and Cameraquip in
Clarendon St
Melbourne (not too sure if that's Panavision these days as I don;t do much in Vic) or a comapny called Lemac. All should have websites.
You could also
check out the ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) and the CML (Cinematographers Mailing List) for more info.
My advice is that a handy cam is the way to go. You need a zoom lens to get a good frame and have the abilty to vary it. You should also find the manual apperture lock so the camera doesn't 'hunt' for correct exposure between inside and out.
Another handy tip is to make a lightproof box out of matte black cardboard and gaffer tape from an art supply
shop to go between the lens and windscreen. This will avoid the nasty reflections so you don't get a tape full of reflected pictures of the front of your camera rather than what's happening outside. It is the same principal as when you cup your hands around your eyes to look inside a car or
shop window.
We often use a 'Cine Saddle' which is just a 'U' shaped canvas bag filled with foam bean bag balls that seems to 'grasp' the camera like a human hand. Often the super serious rig will vibrate too much, so a bit of low tech will often work better. CineSaddle These are great but far too big for your application. Maybe something like this but smaller velcroed to a dash mat would be an idea. I'm sure someone's Mum could whip it up out of an old pair of jeans. It's important it has a zip so you can adjust the packing.
Another mob to talk to is Miller Tripods, an Aussie company who seem to focus more on the smaller tape stuff these days. Again, just look on their website.
I should also point out the importance of lens choice. If you go 'wider' it will look smoother and you'll see more around you, but it will also lose some visual impact. Pictures never show the 'real' look and 4x4'ing always looks a lot less hairy than it really is. It's a bit like watching
Bathurst, they just don't look that fast but if you are standing trackside they are absolutely hooting! A 'tighter' lens will look more dramatic, but also rougher and you may miss out on some of the action. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Try and get some variations looking out the side, backwards, at the dash, pedals, gearsticks etc so you can edit the footage on your computer when you get
home. Even if it's crap it will give you the 'tools' to cut from shot to shot. This will make it 1000000000000% more watchable and memorable. 30 seconds of one shot is boring enough, an hour is sheer hell. Watch a few good videos you like before you go and note down the camera shots, you'll be surprised how many variations are used.
Hope this helps mate, good luck!
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Follow Up By: KiwiAngler - Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 12:48
Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 12:48
V8D
Excellent reply - very informative - thank you. I will start a web search now
I went to the 'Cine Saddle' site and was more than amused about this comment -
" .......snipped......the balls on the bottom of the bag vibrate faster than those on the top"
ahhhh isnt that just so true of many things in life :-) :-)
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